


Everything Ends Up At Prince Tower

by bluesargayent



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cinder definitely doesn't work at a nerd herd desk, F/M, also i don't know how technology works, but i tried okay, kai's last name is super creative i know, side Cresswell, side Emiko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 17:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11673573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesargayent/pseuds/bluesargayent
Summary: “you accidentally added me to this group chat and i don’t know how to take myself off” AUin which our heroine (Cinder) is recruited to fix the phone of the rich CEO's son (Kai) and accidentally adds him to her and her friend's group chat (not exactly an ideal situation when her best friend keeps fangirling over him)





	Everything Ends Up At Prince Tower

Kai smiled in the backseat of the taxi. Today was a great day. An excellent day. First, he had finally found someone to fix his iphone. His father had offered to just buy him a new one multiple times, only for Kai to refuse. Something had happened to the memory card when he dropped it the week before and he didn’t want to loose all his pictures and contacts. He knew he probably should have made backups at some point, but he never thought he’d need it.

And second: Cinder. The lovely member of the local mall’s Nerd Herd. He remembered how he had surprised her when her first approached the desk. She had been there by herself while her friend was on break. Not noticing him initially, she had slammed her head on the underside of the desk, and her embarrassment quickly heightened when she recognized him. After the initial awkwardness, though, they had hit it off. He had to rush off before they were able to exchange numbers, but he had promised to be back in the next few days.

“You look happy. Good day?” The cab driver asked.

“You could say that.”

The cabbie grinned. “Hey. You were in here before, weren’t you?”

Kai froze. He had taken the bus downtown.

“Guess not. You seem familiar.”

“Shouldn’t you be focused on the road?”

The driver grinned. “Sure thing, mister. Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“Take your time,” Kai muttered. The last thing he needed was some cab driver recognizing him as the son of Rikan Prince, founder and CEO of Eastern Commonwealth Corp.

As the car turned a corner, he felt his temporary replacement phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he checked the screen. The number was unknown.

_GUYS HELP IM FAILING LIFE_

Wrong number maybe?

A second later, the phone buzzed again.

_Dont worry about it. Im doing alright and getting a passing grade_

A group chat apparently. He unlocked his phone, looking to see if he could recognize any of the other members in it, but his contacts hadn’t transferred over to the replacement phone. He figured it wouldn’t matter since it was only for a few days, but now he wished he had at least written down a couple.

_Not funny Scarlet im serious_

_What’s wrong Cress?_ A new person asked.

This was clearly someone else’s chat. It seemed pretty personal too. He looked at the top right hand corner to remove himself from the chat, like he would have done on his old phone, but soon realized that wasn’t an option. Where was the group chat settings?

Cress responded to her friend with: _I was helping Thorne with his programming class and so i took out my computer to open the program bc his was freezing up_

Kai tried not to read along. He really did.

_And i forgot i was social-media-stalking him earlier so i opened it up_

It was impossible to resist. It wasn’t as though he knew any of them, anyway.

_And he saw everything_  
_Everything _  
_EVERYTHING CINDER___

____

____

Or maybe he did know some of them. Fuck. Cinder wasn’t really a common name.

_Calm down. We can fix this_

__

__

_NO WE CANT IM GOING TO DIE ALONE_

Not seeing any way to take himself off, Kai decided to do the respectful thing and turned the phone off, laying it on the seat next to him.

“Mister?”

Kai looked up. “Sorry, what?”

“129 Newbae Avenue, right?”

“Right.”

The man let out a low whistle. “Nice place you’ve got here. Rich daddy, huh?”

“You could say that.”

 

_Don’t worry, Cress. You are soo not the only one to have an embarrassing crush incident today._

__

_DONT say anything Iko!_

_I want to hear this Iko_

_Well. Apparently while I was out on break the Kai came in and asked Cindy here to fix his phone._

_Who?_

_KAI! FREAKIN HOT HEIR OF EASTWRN COMMONWEALTH_

_And he asked C to fix his phone?_

_Im right here guys_

_YES!!_

_Cant he just buy another one?_

_?????? !!!!!!!!!!!! ????? XD_

_The memry card was damaged if he switched he would have lost all his contacts and stuff_

_AGAIN XD !!!!!!!!!! HES LITERALLY TRUSTING HER WITH HIS LIFE_

_Congrats i gues?_

_You dont know what its like Cress_  
_I have to sleep in the same apartment as her_  
_Help me_

_XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD_

 

Kai checked his phone for any important messages first thing in the morning. 

This was definitely his Cinder.

He felt bad for invading her privacy like this, but he consoled himself by promising to tell her about the mix-up when he went to see her the next morning.

“Doing anything fun today?”

“Not really, dad. Just lessons at school.”

“How are your lessons going?”

Kai shrugged. “Fine. I’m doing really good in history and literature.”

“Great. It’ll help when you have to write speeches when you’re older.”

Kai blanked out then, thoughts returning to the girl currently in possession of his phone. That Iko person had been right; he was essentially trusting this girl with his life. She had all his numbers, all his schedules, all his pictures. Thankfully, from what he knew of her, she didn’t seem like the type to dig through people’s things. Her co-worker, he wasn’t so sure about.

He stood up. Maybe he should check up on it soon.

“Bye dad!”

“Where are you going?”

“Phone place.” He slipped out the door before his father could say anything else.

 

A cab was needed. Almost as if the girls on the group chat could tell he just sat down, his phone began buzzing.

_Is Winter in this chat?_

__

_Should be. I just put her number in my phone a couple nights ago_

_Winter_  
_Winter_  
_Win-man_  
_Win-girl_  
_Winny_  
_Winnie the Pooh_  
_If she’s not responding to winnie the pooh then she not here_

_I checked the list and shes on here but not responding._

_Weird_

_Ill stop by once im off of work_

_Ooh yes, work ;)_

_Shut up_

_Sure ;)_

_Why do I even hang out with you_

_Because I’m amazing_

He paid the woman in the front seat before sliding out and walking towards the mall. Self-consciously he pulled his hood down lower over his head. It wasn’t very far to the outlet from the west entrance, so it was only a few moments later that he walked through the tech center’s doors.

Cinder was turned around, working on something on the back counter when he walked up. He cleared his throat, smiling a bit when she jumped.

“Your phone isn’t done yet.” She blurted. “You can probably come pick it up tomorrow it I don’t get any big orders today.” 

“Of course. Thank you.”

Cinder smiled at him and he smiled back. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments. Maybe he should just ask someone else the take him off the chat? That would save him from so much more awkwardness.

No. He should let her know. It’d be wrong not to.

“Could you actually help me with something else?”

She raised an eyebrow. 

 

He pulled out his temporary phone. “Um. Someone accidently put me on their group chat and I can’t figure out how to take myself off of it.”

“Sure, I’ll just-,”

“PACKAGE FOR CINDER.”

Said employee grimmanced. “Sorry, this’ll only take a second.”

“THERE’S A LOT.”

“This’ll only take a minute.”

“AND BRING THE SCISSORS YOU’RE GONNA NEED EM.”

Pulling the scissors from her toolbelt, she sighed. “Sorry. Thorne needs help unpacking the new delivery. I’d take your phone and give it back later but-”

“This is already a replacement phone. No problem.” Except yes problem. Muy problem. “Are you sure-?” He tried again, too late for any good. “All right then. I’ll try again later.”

 

_Cindy’s boyfriend came back today ;)_

__

_One, not my boyfriend_  
_Two, we’re at work so get busy_

_He came back???_

_I thought you were in class Cress?_

_It’s just history. You know the professor. Gives out note sheets and never pays attention._

_He came this morning! First thing! He loves her XD_

_OR he really wants his phone back_

_Omigod_

_Iko get back to work_

_So cute! And he’s coming back tomorrow!_

_Iko get back to work_

_AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!_

_Where are you Iko?_

_I KNOW!!!!!_

_Iko get back to work_

_Did I tell you about Thorne?_

_Iko_

_umm NO_

_Whatd i miss_

_SCAR! CINDY’S BOYFRIEND CAME IN AGAIN AND WAS GENERALLY INCREDIBLY ADORABLE AND CRESS IS ABOUT TO TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THORNE_

_Iko get back to work_

_Whats up CD_

_Thorne wasn’t totally creeped out!!_

_congrats_

_YAY!!!!!!!_

_Iko Im serious_

_I mean I’m not sure whether he actually saw everything or not but_  
_Not creeped out_

_Hey me and Em are planning a girls night tomorrow anyone intrested_

_YEASSS can we go to that bar with the apple cocktails again please??_

_Iko do you want me to write you up?_

_Cindy’s in_

_I’m in too_

_Iko stop hiding_

_Have you seen my hair yet Scar?_

_Ooh its super cool_

_I dont think so_

_Let me give you a hint: blue_

_You have blue hair now????_

_Well not all of it is but YES BAM TAKE THAT_

_I hate you!! U know how long ive been waiting to dye my hair??_

_(⌐■_■)_  
_Fudgenuggetscindfoundme byepeeps_

 

He tried not paying attention. He really did. But keeping your nose out of other people’s business when they were talking about you was incredibly hard. He managed to power his phone down and put it in his room so he wouldn’t be distracted during his classes. 

But now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. She seemed like she was interested in him while they were at the shop, but in the text messages . . . 

Whatever. He wasn't supposed to know about to text messages. He shouldn’t let that affect his actions.

Kai turned his text alerts off in favor of logging into his instagram account (4M followers and counting). Most of the people he followed were just people he knew from business relationships. His followers, on the other hand, were generally people he had never met before in his life. Out of curiosity, he searched for any followers named ‘cinder’. 

He found a Disney fan blog and a white girl, but then he clicked on the third option and found who he was looking for. 

Her profile was set to private, so all he could see was her profile pic, her name (Linh Cinder), and where she had written ‘technology is the now and our women are our future’ as her description. She had few followers and even fewer posts. However, Kai hesitated, but clicked the button to send her a follow request. 

Now that he had done this, he felt more comfortable looking up her friend from the shop. The name Iko popped up many results but the blue hair hint helped him track down the right girl. She responded seconds later to his request, allowing him to view the many posts, often of her with other people. He saw Cinder in many of them, along with a girl named Emileé and a younger girl supposedly called Peony. He liked her most recent post for good measure before checking his texts for any business news. And maybe because he was curious about the mysterious members of the groupchat. 

 

_guysssssss_  
_He added me on insta_

__

_Who?_

_Kai MOTHERFREAJING PRINCE added me on insta_  
_I'm going to die_  
_AND HE LIKED MY POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_No way_

_YES WAYY_  
_SOMEONE LOOK ON MY FOLLOWERS AND MAKE SURE THIS IS REAL_

_It's real_

_AHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

_Oh me too_

_??????you added him right Cinder_  
_Not yet should I?_

_YES!!!_

_Is it kind of weird?_

 

Mentally Kai kicked himself. It was _so_ weird. Why had he thought it was a good idea. 

 

_Do it_

__

__

_DO ITTTT_

_Fine. Done_

 

Kai got an alert that Cinder Linh has accepted his follow request. Immediately he flipped over to see her posts. 

Her first one was an aesthetic shot of a pile of computer parts. The filter could have been better but it was still a very photogenic picture. Next was a picture of her and her friend Iko in graduation robes. Her caption named her as an alum of a local college. Not exactly Harvard, but Kai wasn't one to judge on things like that. The proceeding picture was a group shoot of her and a group of four other girls and three boys. They were sitting around a table in the park, smiling and having a good time. _Enjoying our time while @winter and @jacin are in town._ Finally was a shot that had clearly been taken by someone else of Cinder leaning over an opened keyboard. Her hair was slightly falling out of her ponytail and she was focused on what her right hand was doing. The left one was laying on top of her outstretched left leg, both plastic prosthetics. 

Kai paused. He hadn't noticed anything odd about her in the shop, but now that he was thinking about it, he couldn't remember her ever displaying her left hand. She had kept it mainly behind the desk as she worked. 

He felt slightly betrayed before chiding himself. Why should she give out this information about herself to someone she had just met. She really had no obligation to do so. Even thinking she should have disclosed this to him was incredibly pretentious and he immediately felt bad for briefly assuming it was any of his business.

That was her most recent post, so he double-tapped the image and shut his phone down before he could he broke and peeked at the group chat. 

 

_He liked that post Iko took_

__

__

_AHHH HE LIKES YOU_

_He liked one of your pictures too!_

_The one of me and Em’s anniversary_

_Oh_

_Ooooohhhhhh???????_

_Shut up._

 

Kai stepped out of the cab and into the repair shop. Somehow he had managed not to peek at any of the girls’ messages since last night and was determined to keep it that way until he could come clean to Cinder. 

 

_Okay I added Winter is that okay?_

__

__

_Hello friends!_

_Wasn’t she here’ before?_

_No? Idk who the fifth person is in this chat tho_

 

Cinder frowned. She went to the details page and added the number Winter was texting from to her phone. She clicked on the contact she previously listed as Winter and groaned when she saw the eight instead of the six at the end of the number. Of course she had messed up Winter’s number.

She was prevented from taking any action when she heard a customer make their way to the desk.

Kai. 

She smiled, while he seemed slightly nervous. 

“Hello!”

“Hi,” he replied. “Is my phone ready yet?”

“Yes! Just finished it last night.” Cinder dug under the table and pulled out the newly repaired cell. “Just give me the replacement.”

He hesitated, but handed it over. Cinder was originally amused that he seemed so out of place, but now his nerves were getting on hers. 

She paused only to ask whether he had anything he needed to save from the phone, which he said no to, before slipping out the card and plugging it into the original. She handed it back with a grin. 

“All better.”

“Thank you so much.” He pulled out his wallet but stopped before handing over his card. “Listen, um, remember how I was asking you to take me off that group chat the other day?”

“Yeah.”

“I'm pretty sure it was your group chat.”

Cinder froze. 

“At first, I didn't realize it, and then I couldn't figure out how to take myself off, and I tried to tell you yesterday but then you had to go help somewhere else.”

Cinder remembered this. She knew this. But-

“You could have texted me.”

He cringed. “I know. I should have. I just didn’t realize it was you at first, but then it got more and more awkward the more I waited. I’m sorry.”

Cinder didn’t say anything, just ran his card.

“Please. Say something. I’m sorry. I realize that was kind of an invasion of privacy but-”

“Here’s your card and receipt.” Her face was emotionless as she handed back his card.

“Thank you,” Kai breathed. 

“Have a good day.”

“You too.” He paused, waiting for her to say something, anything else, but when that never happened he turned and left. 

 

As soon as he left, Cinder pulled out her own phone. She scanned all the messages she and her friends had sent each other the previous night, messages they thought were staying between them. She kicked Kai out and turned her phone off. 

It took several deep breathes, but she managed to plaster a fake smile on as she greeted the next customer.

 

Kai slipped into the back of a cab, putting his head in his hands.

“Address?”

Kai told him that of his father’s office building. When the driver began putting it into his gps. Kai interrupted with a “Prince Tower.”

“Ah, just say that next time, kid. What you doing there?”

“My dad works there.”

He could feel the cabbie staring at him through the rearview mirror. “He must be pretty important, then, huh.”

An uncomfortable turn. Kai shrugged. “He likes to think so.”

The driver laughed.

 

“Hey,” Scarlett said, sipping her drink. “Don’t think about him; think about that job interview you have tomorrow! It’s a good position, right?”

Cinder shrugged. “Yeah, but-”

“But what?” 

Cinder watched Iko and Cress twirling around on the dance floor. She picked at the stamp on her hand that told the staff that she was under twenty-one. “The job is at the Eastern Commonwealth. You know, that place his dad owns.”

 

“Yikes.” Scarlett took another sip with a hand that definitely did not have a stamp on it.

“Even if you get the job, you probably would never even see him.” Winter tried reassuring her, fiddling with the straw in her Roy Roger.

“I’m still applying.” Cinder said, defensively.

“Good! You should.”

“I am.” She repeated. There was a moment of silence before Iko ran over, slightly buzzed but still coherent, to drag Cinder into the action. Scarlett and Winter downed the rest of their drinks before joining them.

 

Kai groaned. The sun was shining just a little too bright this morning for how awful he felt. Still, he showered and dressed. He had meeting his father wanted him to attend this morning. He didn’t have time to fucking wallow.

 

Cinder paused outside Prince Tower to stare at the sheer power it seemed to exude. It wasn’t the tallest building in New York, but it was certainly up there. The sleek exterior flowed into the professional-looking inside. She greeted the receptionist, who told her what floor her interview would be held on. One of the highest ones, apparently. She smiled, half from excitement and half and nerves. 

Cinder was honestly surprised she was even being considered for the job. If she was hired . . . it would literally be life changing. With the incredible pay, she could finally move out from her terrible stepmother’s house, and with the company’s name on her resume she literally had all the options in the world, even after the internship expired.

She wanted this job so bad. She _needed_ this job.

 

Kai checked his phone under the table. His father would hate him for it, but the meeting was just so boring. They were basically just going over what they had decided on last meeting. Which Kai was there for. And for which he had read the minutes. 

No new messages.

 

“Good morning, Miss Lihn.” Rikan Prince stood, extending his arm to her.

“Good morning.” She shook it, smiling politely and trying to hide her shock that she was being interviewed by the CEO of the entire company.

“I’ve heard great things about you, Miss Linh. Please, have a seat.”

Stomach turning, she sat down. “Thank you, sir.”

 

After the meeting finally let out, Kai sought out his father’s assistant, Konn Torin.

“Hello!”

“Hello, Kai. How are you today?”

Kai shrugged. “Okay. You know how exciting meetings are.”

“Yet, they are a necessary part of business.”

“Of course. You know where my dad is?”

Torin hesitated. “I believe he is in the middle of an interview right now. I can let you know when he’s done.”

 

“That’s okay,” Kai sighed. “I’ll find him later.”

 

“Can you tell me about a time you’ve shown leadership at your current or past job?”

Cinder nodded. “Sure, I remember, I believe it was last month, a coworker of mine had been injured, and another had a family emergency so we were extremely shorthanded. The injured one was actually our manager, who normally schedules people and deals with any complications . . .”

 

Kai was on the phone. With Levana. It was rather unprofessional to refer to her by only her first name, but as long as he kept it in his mind he really did not care. What he did care about was convincing her that, no, he was not willing to sell his father’s company. It was obvious that she had pinpointed him as the weak link in the family tree and was just waiting for him to take over the company, but out of an illusion of professionalism he was prohibited from telling her fuck off and stop bothering him.

 

Cinder smiled as she shook Mr. Prince’s hand. “Thank you so much for giving me your time. I look forward to hearing from you.”

He smiled back. “Between you and me, Miss Linh, I believe you should look forward to that very much.”

She smiled wider, unsure of what else to say. “Thank you, sir.”

“Good day.”

She left his office and, smile still frozen onto her face, walked straight up to the elevator. Once she found herself alone in the steel shaft, she fistpumped the air, letting out a small whoop. 

 

_Nailed it_  
_Freaking nailed it!!_  
_‘I look forward to hearing from you’_  
_‘BW U AND ME I THINK YOU SHOULD’_

__

__

_Congrats CInder!!_

_Good job!_

 

She was still smiling (she probably would be for the rest of her life, honestly) when the door slid open. She moved over to make room for the new occupant.

“Hey,” He said, absentmindedly. 

Her smile faltered. “Hey.”

The boy jumped. “Oh! Cinder. What are you doing here?”

“Job interview.”

“Oh, good luck.”

“It already happened.”

“Oh.” Awkward silence. “I’m sorry, again.” 

“It’s whatever.” They still weren’t looking at each other. 

Cinder stared at the numbers as they slowly decreased.

Forty-two . . . forty-one . . .

At least, until they stopped decreasing. The elevator jerked.

“Crap.” Kai stepped forward to force open the doors, but they were stuck too far between floors. 

Cinder groaned while he pressed the elevator call button to let someone know their situation. For lack of anything else to do, she paced in a circle before sitting on the floor.

 

“The ground’s dirty.” Kai said, before he could stop himself.

“This entire building is cleaner than anything I’ve touched in my life.”

“Oh.”

They didn’t say anything for a while.

“This doesn't normally happen.”

“I figure.”

Before there could be another awkward silence, Kai began talking. “How did your interview go?”

“Pretty good, I think. Promising.”

“I hope you get it.”

Cinder looked at him, confused.

“The job. You seem pretty qualified. Not that I would really know, but you did a good job with my phone, at least.”

“I hope I get it too.”

Kai sat down, trying to find a good balance between being too close and too far. Cinder watched. 

“What are you doing here?”

“I mean, my dad kind of owns the place.” He looked forward, but could see her holding back a laugh in her reflection on the metal door. “He sends me to meeting a lot. Trying to get me ready for when I eventually take over.”

“Do you want to take over?”

“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “I know most people don't want to follow in their parents footsteps or anything, but it's a good company. I want to use it to help more people.”

“I wouldn't have a foot without your company.”

Kai raised an eyebrow at her. 

“That sounded weird, sorry, uh, your charity where you give kids prosthetics that couldn't otherwise afford them?” She raised the hem of her pants. “I lost mine when I was a kid and it was always really hard to find the money to replace it as often as I needed to.”

“I'm glad we could help.” 

She smiled softly. “It's really an amazing program. That's what the internship is for. I'd be designing more efficient processes so the prosthetics could become cheaper.”

“I think that's great. I really do hope you get the job. You sound good for it.”

“I just hope you father agrees.”

“You interviewed with my father?” He asked, surprised. 

“Yeah, I was surprised too! The receptionist told me to go to the top floor and I thought it would be with the person I talked to on the phone interview, but apparently not.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

Kai shook his head. 

“Seriously! What?”

“Nothing. I guess it must be serious.”

Cinder made a very pained expression. 

“Not in a bad way!” Kai backtracked. “Just that he was very interested in hiring you. We're trying to find a lot more young people to start in the company.”

“I can't believe I might be getting a job right out of school.”

“You're twenty-two?”

Cinder shook her head. “I'll be twenty-one next month, but this is technically an internship with the opportunity for a job offer once I graduate.”

“Nice.”

“How . . . old are you?” She felt childish asking that question.

“Twenty-two. I’ll be graduating in June.”

“NYU?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged so he could hope she didn’t think he was bragging. 

“Nice. That’s a good school. Obviously. Business?”

It took a second for him to figure out she was asking about his major. “Business management/econ. You?”

“Mechanical engineering.”

“Should have guessed.” He smiled. “But obviously not an amazing one because we’re still stuck in an elevator.”

“Ah yes, let me pull up the blueprints in my mind computer and use my magic screwdriver to unstick us from outside the elevator we’re stuck in.”

“Sounds simple enough to me.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re in business. I think you need to step up here; this elevator just needs some strong leadership right now.”

They laughed and continued joking around for a while.

“Listen.” Cinder cleared her throat. “I really don’t think I overreacted earlier about, you know, but I see your side of the story.”

“Sorry again, I mean-” He was hushed by Cinder before he could finish the sentence he wasn’t sure where he was going with. 

“And I, uh, appreciate that you eventually told me and apologized for it. Maybe we could actually exchange numbers?”

Kai didn’t say anything out of shock. Misinterpreting it as noninterest, Cinder began backtracking. 

“Of course, if I get this job I’m going to be way busier, so we might not even have a chance to talk or anything.”

“No! I’d like that. Exchanging numbers.”

Smiling to herself, Cinder opened up a new contact on her phone and handed it to Kai. He had just managed to type his number in when they felt the elevator jolt back into motion.

“Well.” Cinder stated.

“Well.” Kai agreed. “I’d love to meet up sometime.”

“I work tomorrow morning until noon. You could could come by if you want for lunch?”

“I’d love to.”

Cinder smiled. “Just . . . be more careful with your phone this time.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! come talk to me about this au on tumblr at https://scarlettmagazine.tumblr.com/ please i love to chat!


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